9780764570605_cover_5.qxp 2/1/10 12:36 PM Page 1 A fascinating glimpse into the formation A fun and informative trip through Europe’s past of a continent European History The origins of the European History continent The rich variety of Europe’s history The roles religion, power, and politics have played rolled into one thrilling account in shaping the Europe of This book takes you on a fascinating journey through the disasters, today triumphs, people, power, and politics that have helped shape the Europe How Europe became an we know today and you’ll meet some incredible characters on the way! industrial superpower From Roman relics to Renaissance,World Wars, and Eurovision, European History For Dummies packs in the facts alongside the fun and brings the The impact the past has past alive. on the present Sean Lang is the author of the best-selling British History For Dummies. He is co-editor of Twentieth Century History Review and Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association. Explanations in plain English ’ @ ‘Get in, get out information Icons and other navigational aids ߜ Find listings of all our books Online cheat sheet ߜ Choose from many different subject categories Top ten lists ߜ Browse our free articles A dash of humour and fun ISBN 978-0-7645-7060-5 Sean Lang £15.99 UK Sean Lang $19.99 US Author of British History For Dummies $25.99 CN ™ FREE eTips at A Reference for the Rest of Us! dummies.com® History Lang Get More and Do More at Dummies.com® Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! To access the Cheat Sheet created specifi cally for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/europeanhistoryuk Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? 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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to (44) 1243 770620. 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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-10: 0-7645-7060-9 (PB) ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-7060-5 (PB) Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_570609 ffirs.qxp 3/9/06 6:45 PM Page iii About the Author Sean Lang studied history at Oxford and has been teaching it to school, college, and university students for the past 20 years. He is the author of British History For Dummies and has written textbooks on nineteenth and twentieth century history. He is Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association and co-editor of Twentieth Century History Review. He writes reg- ularly for the Times Educational Supplement and for BBC History Magazine and has written on history teaching for the Council of Europe. Sean is cur- rently based in Cambridge where he is Research Fellow in History at Anglia Ruskin University. 01_570609 ffirs.qxp 3/9/06 6:45 PM Page iv 01_570609 ffirs_2.qxp 8/9/06 1:07 PM Page v Author’s Acknowledgements I must thank my editors at John Wiley, Samantha Clapp and Rachael Chilvers, who have shown a lot more patience with my hectic schedule than I am sure I deserve. Alan Palmer was invaluable on the history of the Baltic region and Nicolas Kinloch and Marc Polonsky both gave me good ideas for the Part of Tens. To my in-laws, Phyllis and Monica Graham of Cockermouth, and my friends Laure and Alain Renouf of Aix-en-Provence, all of whom put me up (and put up with me) over the summer while I was writing this, I owe special thanks. Finally, my thanks go to John Hooper – writer, journalist, European, and very forbearing Kraftwerk fan. 01_570609 ffirs.qxp 3/9/06 6:45 PM Page vi Publisher’s Acknowledgements We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Production Media Development Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis, Project Editor: Rachael Chilvers Jennifer Theriot Content Editor: Simon Bell Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl, Commissioning Editor: Samantha Clapp Stephanie D. Jumper Development Editor: Kelly Ewing Proofreaders: Brian H. Walls Copy Editor: Kate O’Leary Indexer: Techbooks Proofreader: Juliet Booker Technical Editor: Matthew Bennett, Liverpool Hope University Executive Editor: Jason Dunne Executive Project Editor: Martin Tribe Special Help: Jan Withers and Jennifer Bingham Cover Photo: © CORBIS: Sandro Vannini, Bettmann, David Lees, Archivo Iconografico, S.A., Austrian Archives; Getty Images: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, French School, BAVARIA Cartoons: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_570609 ftoc.qxp 3/9/06 6:55 PM Page vii Contents at a Glance Introduction .................................................................1 Part I: Origins of a Continent.........................................7 Chapter 1: Not So Much a Continent As a View of Life..................................................9 Chapter 2: The Stone Age Rocks ....................................................................................21 Part II: Europe of the Ancients.....................................33 Chapter 3: You’re Ancient History!.................................................................................35 Chapter 4: The Ups and Downs of the Roman Empire ................................................51